


Brilliant

by chelsywrites



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Angst, Donna Noble Remembers, F/F, Hospital, Time Lord Donna Noble, could be canon in my dreams, literally no other hospital talk other than Hospital
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 06:30:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21114260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelsywrites/pseuds/chelsywrites
Summary: The Doctor finds herself stuck in a hospital in London - so what has brought the TARDIS here?





	Brilliant

The Doctor decides to take a trip by herself while her companions are at home, recovering from their latest trip.

They say their goodbyes and she skips into the TARDIS, a massive grin on her face as she presses buttons and flips switches, with lights flashing she takes off. 

However, the TARDIS lands rather quickly, and harshly if she says so herself. She tilts her head like a confused puppy and pouts, as she tries and fails to get a reading from any of the screens. 

The Doctor sticks her head out and has a look around. Unfortunately, the TARDIS had landed in a janitor’s closet - she can’t say it’s the first time.

She shrugs and decides that a janitor’s closet can’t be that dangerous, so she exits, immediately entering a stark white environment. From the taste, the smell and the scrubs, she finds she’s in a hospital.

Curiosity gets the better of her, so the Doctor wanders off and finds a nurses station. She figures she’s on Earth, with all the human looking people around, and the newspaper on the desk says it’s the same date as when she left.

The nurses were starting to look at her suspiciously so the Doctor decided to do the one thing she does best - pretends she knows what she’s doing.

She picked up something important looking - but not important enough to get her into trouble - and began reading the form as if she understood any of it. It was all gibberish and quite normal looking, so she decided to give up the form, dropping it back on the desk and turning to find herself face to face with a “real” looking doctor.

She clears her throat, “Can I help you?” and crosses her arms across her chest.

“No…” the Doctor starts, “just… visiting.” and offers her a smile again.

The “real” doctor, not at all impressed with her, scans her up and down. “Who are you?”

“I’m the Doctor.” she says as she pulls on her suspenders and rocks on her feet, an awarding winning grin covering her face from ear to ear - proud of herself as if she’s the only doctor in a hospital.

“The Doctor?” in which she nods in reply. “You have to be kidding me,” she mutters under her breath. “Come with me then”.

The Doctor, while completely baffled that answer got her anywhere, follows the nurse through the maze of hospital hallways. As they’re walking, she sneaks glances in each room, listening in on conversations, taking note of ‘restricted’ areas. 

Nothing seems out of the ordinary though, which doesn’t mean there isn’t - just means it’s gonna be hard to find.

The “real” doctor stops at a very normal looking room and opens the door for her. “After you”.

The Doctor, cautious as ever, takes her time. She takes note of everything in sight. 

But nothing could prepare her for who she saw lying in that hospital bed.

“What… What is this?!” she demands, eyes watering and voice breaking.

The once fiery and feisty Donna Noble, sat silent and still in the hospital bed. Her hair, once luscious and bright red, now faded and flat, and her skin… as pale as snow. The Doctor had never seen her like this.

The Doctor slowly made her way to Donna’s side as the doctor started saying something about chronic migraines, but she was too focussed on the sight in front of her. 

She took a seat next to Donna and held her hand. “How… how did you know to bring me here?”

“Her family… they kept asking for the Doctor, said if he was here we had to bring him here. No one understood what they meant… until now I guess.” she said as she shifted on her feet, obviously feeling the tension in the room. 

The Doctor didn’t take her eyes off Donna. She was meant to be under her protection - how could she let this happen?

“Doctor?” she turns as she hears the break in Sylvia’s voice. 

They haven’t changed at all and yet, the lines on their faces say differently. The Doctor never liked seeing what years apart did, hence why she never came back.

“Sylvia, Wilfred.” she nods in their respective directions. 

The “real” doctor mumbles an excuse and leaves the room as quietly as she had entered. 

Wilfred gasps, “I told you! I told you he… she… she would come! I told you!” he says as he sends kisses to the sky above. 

Sylvia and Wilfred make their way to the opposite side of the bed, Wilfred taking the seat and Sylvia sitting on the bed, taking her daughters other hand.

“Why… Why am I here?” the Doctor asks, looking between them and Donna.

“Donna… she… she’s been suffering these horrible migraines for years…” Sylvia starts, but ends up covering her mouth with her other hand to stop herself from crying.

Wilfred places his hand on her knee as he continues, “Ever since that Christmas, she’s never been the same… and they just keep getting worse and worse. Shaun and her have ended things, she’s been out of a job for a while and she’s had to come and live with us again.” he says as he waves his hands around. 

“That still doesn’t answer the question…” The Doctor replies, sitting back in her chair. 

“Doctor…” Wilfred says and swallows hard. “We wouldn’t ask this of you, again, if we had another option…”

“Can you please give her memory back?” Sylvia suddenly speaks up, making direct eye contact with the Doctor.

“You… you know… you know I can’t do that.” The Doctor replies, barely above a whisper, but she knows she’s lost this battle. 

“You have to.” Sylvia says, firm and stubborn as per usual. 

Before they can finish discussing it, Donna starts to stir awake.

The Doctor quickly drops Donna’s hand and jumps into the car next to the bed, crossing one leg over the other as to look “natural”. 

“What’s going on?” Donna barely mumbles as she tries sitting up, she winces a little as she does. 

“Hey sweetie, the doctor is here to see you.” Sylvia says as she strokes Donna’s hand comfortingly. 

Donna turns to face the Doctor, offering a small smile as she says “Hello Doctor.”

The Doctor’s heartbreaks in that moment. She always thought the worst thing was saying goodbye to Donna Noble, but saying hello might be harder. 

“Hi Donna, I’m Doctor… Smith.” The Doctor replies, reaching out her hand to shake Donna’s.

They stare at each other for a little longer than what would be considered normal for two strangers, just staring at each other. 

Sylvia clears her throat and ushers Wilfred out of the room. “We’re just gonna go get some tea, if that’s okay, Donna?” Donna nods in reply and off they go, leaving the two alone.

“So… Donna Noble,” she calls herself the Doctor enough she might as well play the “real” part. “How long have you been suffering from these… migraines… for lack of a better word?”

“Uh…” Donna clears her throat before she begins going through the same questions and answers as she always does. “I think… ten years at this point.”

The Doctor almost flinches at the number - almost. She manages to recover quickly and keep up her “interrogation” as Donna would call it. 

“How long do they usually last?” she asks as she decides to stand, slowly pacing the room and glancing back at Donna every now and again.

“Hours… weeks,” Donna sighs heavily, keeping her eyes locked on the blanket on top of her. “Sometimes it subsides, but it always comes back again.”

“And uh... how do they… affect your life?” The Doctor really didn’t want an answer to this question.

Donna almost laughs, “I’m divorced, living with my mum and, to top it all off, I’m unemployed… so you tell me.” 

A smile plays at the Doctor’s lips - she’s not completely gone.

They sit in silence for a moment, Donna staring out the window and the Doctor staring at Donna.

Donna breaks her from her thoughts, “Doctor?” turning her attention towards her.

“Yes, Donna?” The Doctor replies, giving her full, undivided attention to her.

“You know… I really wanted to be someone,” she says as tears fill her eyes. “I had dreams - travelling the world, having kids… and now…”. 

“I know.” The Doctor says softly, and for the first time since suffering from these migraines - Donna believes a doctor. 

They’re silent again when Sylvia and Wilfred decide to make their entrance, pretending to have not been stood outside the entire time. 

“So?” Sylvia whispers as Donna is preoccupied looking out the window.

The Doctor closes her eyes and nods. 

Sylvia and Wilfred breathe a sigh of relief and begin hugging each other, trying not to cry. 

The Doctor claps her hands together, as she makes her way to Donna’s side and sits on her bed again. Sylvia and Wilfred take their places and are both holding Donna’s hand this time.

“Okay Donna… I’m just going to touch your forehead. It’s going to sting a bit… is that okay?” The Doctor asks, already holding her hands out. Donna looks over to her family who nod at her, which leads Donna to nod at the Doctor. 

The Doctor places her fingers at Donna’s temple, and just as easily as she took all memories of the Doctor out - she gives them back. They go through all their journeys together, and even some stuff Donna had missed during her years of avoiding everything and anything to do with the Doctor. 

Once they get through everything, Donna has a bit of a dizzy spell and holds her head in her hands. 

“Donna! Are you okay?” Sylvia is quickly on her feet, standing over Donna and stroking her hair. 

The Doctor watches as Donna… collects herself. She actually sits up and smiles, a big Donna Noble smile too. Before either can say anything Donna is attacked in the form of hugs by her family.

“Okay, okay… I’m okay.” they take Donna’s hint and relax.

“Hello Doctor.” Donna says, grinning from ear to ear, that beautiful smile of hers. 

But, in perfect Doctor nature, she had to ruin the moment by furrowing her brows and tilting her head. “But that… that’s impossible! How?...” she scans Donna with the screwdriver, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for all of this to turn out to be fake. 

Donna slaps the screwdriver out of her face and brings the Doctor in for a hug. 

The Doctor hugs her back, tightly. She hadn’t realised how much she missed Donna Noble’s hugs.

When they part the Doctor reads the screwdriver.

“So… what’s the diagnosis?” Wilfred is the one to ask, while they all look a mixture of happy and nervous.

“Oh my… Donna Noble… brilliant, brilliant, brilliant Donna Noble.” The Doctor grabs Donna’s face in her hands and plants a kiss on her forehead. She leans down so they are now eye to eye, “You are brilliant.”

**Author's Note:**

> i have not proofread this and it's 2am so good luck... hope you enjoy my doctordonna angst!! i love these two so much and i would love for thirteen and donna to meet :') thank you for reading!! <3


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